A chat with illustrator and t-shirt designer, BATHI

Tangguh Karya (aka BATHI) is an incredible illustrator and t-shirt designer who eats, sleeps and breathes the arts. And rightfully so, he has been surrounded by creatives his whole life.

After a friend introduced BATHI to 99designs, he fell in love. Besides considering the site fun and challenging, he was able to build a consistent client base from around the world and broaden his career opportunities.

We spoke with BATHI about how 99designs helped his career go global, where he draws his inspiration and where he sees graphic design going in the coming years.

Where do you find inspiration?

I get inspiration from everywhere — while reading books, watching movies, etc. I record a lot of things and write down ideas that randomly come to mind. It has been very useful in my design process.

What led you to start using 99designs?

A friend suggested I try 99designs, and I feel very lucky to have found it. Here, I find a different world that’s fun and challenging.

Through 99designs, I have established good relationships with many clients. Some clients ask me to work up to 3 designs per month and the additional work is still happening to this day. 99designs really opened my door to a bigger client base.

What are the three most important things that designers can do to have success at 99designs?

Three things I’ve done on 99designs is:

try

fail

try again

Why do you think design is important?

Each day, we are faced with lots of design: letterheads, banners, magazines, books, newspapers, web sites, product packaging and much more. Through design, it’s easy to distinguish between a quality newspaper and a “cheap paper.” Or distinguish between a small company and a bona fide company.

If a company doesn’t appreciate design then they will lose to the competition. Design is one of the most important factors to stand out and can often be overlooked by companies.

The author

A Louisiana native, Allison moved to San Francisco and became the first Community Liaison at 99designs. Over the years, she established and lead several designer teams focused on supporting, educating and motivating 99d's global community of designers to reach their fullest potential. She loves advocacy work, design, psychology, and making real connections with humans all over the world.